A call

I was out when I received a phone call from my "empty" house. Something or someone has triggered the alarm system so I rushed home only to find that everything looks to be in order so did the system malfunction?

Before I installed the system, many people told me that there would be many false alarms and that it is not really useful but just because I do not want to wake up in the middle of the night to find an intruder standing over me, I decided to go ahead with the installation. I prefer to be awakened by a false alarm in the wee hours than to wake up groggily staring into a stranger's face but I can't say the same for my neighbours.

While there are many types of home security system out there, it is not easy to design a configuration and settings that will inform the owner of exactly what triggered the system if different types of sensors (contact sensors, shock sensors, motion sensors) are grouped together in one zone. Even a 10-zone system does not provide me with the granularity that I desired but due to a budget constraint, I settled for it. So now there is no way for me to tell what triggered the system.

So is a home alarm/security system a necessity nowadays? Or is it just there to provide home owners with a false sense of security? What do you all think?

A plan for 3 years

Now, I am in the midst of getting ready to move to my new house. So all my daily activities recently have something to do with this move. The plan is to move in at the end of October this year and live there until Dec 2012. My spouse and I bought the place 5 years ago but only received the keys from the developer mid 2009. After looking through the 2.5 storeys intermediate terrace house, we conclude that we do not need this much space for just the two of us so we decide to sell it in 3 years time when the housing market should have recovered. I feel fortunate that my spouse have taken a break from work since early this year so that we can jointly participate 100% in this event. Would we stick to the plan? Would we decide not to sell the house when the 3 years are up? Only time can tell.